Kismet

Kayankaya Thriller #4

Jakob Arjouni

Translated by Anthea Bell

As a Turkish immigrant raised by Germans, he’s regularly subjected to racism in the gritty, working-class city, and getting work isn’t easy. So when his friend Romario asks Kayankaya to protect him against thugs demanding protection money from his restaurant business, the down-and-out Kayankaya takes the job.

Except these are no ordinary thugs. They turn out to be battle hardened Croatian nationalists looking to take over the rackets in Frankfurt, and they do not take kindly to Kayankaya’s interference with their plans. But try as he might, Kayankaya just can’t seem to stay out of their way…

What ensues is a brilliant novel about organized crime, immigration, the fallout from the Balkan wars, and the madness of nationalism from one of Europe’s finest crime writers.

JAKOB ARJOUNI was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1964, the son of acclaimed German playwright Hans Gunter Michelson. He has written numerous books, including the novel Magic Hoffmann, which was shortlisted for the IMPAC Award. But it is his series of four mysteries featuring Turkish immigrant detective Kemal Kayankaya–all of which are being published by Melville House–for which he has become best known. Bestsellers throughout Europe and the winner of the German Thriller Prize, they have also been turned into wildly popular movies in his home country. Arjouni now divides his time between Berlin and Languedoc, France.

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“A gripping caper and a haunting indictment of the madness of nationalism, illuminated by brilliant use of language: magnificent.” —The Guardian

“This lively, gripping book sets a high standard for the crime novel as the best of modern literature.” —The Independent

“If you like your investigators tough and sassy, Kayankaya is your guide.” —Sunday Times of London

“As winning a noirish gumshoe as has swooped onto the mystery scene in some time.” —Richard Lipez, The Washington Post

“Kemal Kayankaya is the ultimate outsider among hard-boiled private eyes.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“In the emphasis on action and quck-jab dialogue, reader will notice an echo of James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler, but Arjouni’s stories also brim with the absurd humor that made The Sopranos so entertaining.” —Vikas Turakhia, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Jakob Arjouni’s downbeat detective Kemel Kayankaya has proved as enigmatic as Columbo, as erudite as Marlowe and occasionally, as crazed as Hammett’s Continental Op…. Arjouni forges both a gripping caper and a haunting indictment of the madness of nationalism, illuminated by brilliant use of language: magnificent.” —The Guardian

“This is sharp, witty writing, packed with life and colour that bursts through in Anthea Bell’s translation…. This lively, gripping book sets a high standard for the crime novel as the best of modern literature.” —The Independent

“This is true hardboiled detective fiction, realistic, violent and occasionally funny, with a hero who lives up to the best traditions of the genre.” —The Telegraph

“Re-imagines the dull capital of the German financial industry as an urban hell where minority groups and crime bosses prey on one another with ruthless abandon.” —The Daily Beast

“A good thriller doesn’t need a specific milieu but it can be so much more satisfying when it has one. Jakob Arjouni was born and bred in Frankfurt and does a remarkable job of turning what is often considered Germany’s most boring city, into a vivid setting for violent crime capers… This is Arjouni’s fourth Kayankaya novel and they deserve to be better known in the English-speaking world…. If you like your investigators tough and sassy, Kayankaya is your guide.” —Sunday Times of London

“A genuine storyteller who beguiles his readers without the need of tricks.” —L’Unita

With its snappy dialogue and rumpled heroes, Arjouni’s crime fiction owes an obvious debt to American noir but it is equally reminiscent of many Eastern European satirical novels. The plot of Kismet may recall any number of gangster romps, but the society so caustically depicted here is as recognizable as that conjured up, for instance, by Jaroslav Hasek in The Good Soldier Schweik. —Anna Mudow, The B&N Review